In November 2002, the former Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) asked us for tax and debt increases to expand and upgrade the jail on Las Vegas St. Voters said “No” decisively. The next week, the old BOCC put us in debt without voter approval, in violation of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), which I wrote. They had admitted they needed voter approval, did not get it, but built the jail project anyway. Debt and interest costs exceed $75 million.County officials suppressed until after the election a letter they had during the campaign. It was a finding from federal officials that there was no imminent threat to close down the existing jail because of overcrowding. Our leaders had claimed that was a serious risk. Fortunately, voters rejected that campaign propaganda. Unfortunately, the gullible old BOCC believed their own con.As an added outrage, the county also borrowed about the same amount for a new courthouse they didn’t even bother to ask voters to approve. All four of those arrogant, spendaholic politicians are now gone, but their disgraceful debt lives on–$156 million we and our children must pay back over decades. NOW we hear that the Metro Jail cells next to the courthouse are also unsafe. Why weren’t we told that three years ago, before secret courthouse planning began? Maybe we wouldn’t be building around a structure that is yet another candidate for the bulldozer. Maybe we could have used its ground floor offices for courts.What immediate benefit do we get for our $80 million? Six more courtrooms. That’s a cost of over $13 million per courtroom. But they plan to overbuild and leave six more courtrooms on upper floors for later completion–at an additional cost of course. Such a deal.I opposed this scandal at the time, and will continue to do so. Now you can, too. The jail’s almost done, the courthouse just begun. The BOCC will receive an update on the status of the county’s illegal funding activities on April 21 at 2 p.m. It will be held on the third floor at the County Adm. Building, 27 E. Vermijo Ave. Colo. Springs. Be there and say what you think. Be polite, but firm. Remember, we work for you. I, for one, will never forget that.Much of the courthouse foundation work has now been poured. My Jan. 11 inaugural request for a prompt public hearing to reconsider this issue was stalled over three months so this sleaziest episode in county history could be made irreversible. But the related parking disaster can still be corrected.Right now, the only underground parking will be for elitist judges, so they never have to mingle with us, the “unwashed masses” who pay their $100,000-plus salaries. They will also have a private elevator to their parking spaces, so we can’t see them coming late and leaving early. That underground parking perk alone cost taxpayers an extra $5,000 per space.City rules require the county to provide about 450 parking spaces for this new construction, which will also create shiny new offices for other government employees, like the probation department. That means another parking garage. Where did they decide to put it? To the south of the county building. Construction is already visible in the parking lot. But that lot alone is not big enough. “No problem! Let’s demolish the Atrium Building next door!”Like you, I did not know the name of that enormous white building last year. It’s just south of the county building, at Tejon and Costilla. Go visit it, while you can. According to assessor records, it is over 42,000 square feet. That means 20 large houses could fit inside it. Probation offices are there now, along with county maintenance and some other activities. It is (under)valued by the assessor at $2,250,000, and probably worth much more.I requested and took a tour recently. I invited my four colleagues, who did not participate. Part of this solid building is about 50 years old, part about 100 years old. It was all updated in the mid-1980s. It needs some mechanical upgrades, but is hardly an eyesore or hazard. Remember, it’s occupied now, and is only being demolished to provide a new courthouse parking garage.When I asked the chief judge why the Atrium Building deserved the wrecking ball, he said, “When it rains, the windows leak.” No fooling. I have witnesses.When I asked our tour guide the same question, one answer he gave was that it is the only remaining county-owned building that is frame construction, not brick, stone, concrete, etc. That puts it in the same class as maybe 95 percent of all other buildings in this county. He also said sealing the slanted glass panes that give the building its name would cost “about $300,000.” That skylight is about 1,500 square feet. Anyone want a job installing a glass overlay? Say, $10,000? Isn’t $200 a square foot for GLASS a bit pricey, even for government work?If we repaired Atrium Building window leaks, kept probation there, and lowered the court complex size, we wouldn’t need extra parking. We also save tens of millions and wouldn’t need to demolish the Atrium Building for parking! Duh! Of course, some court employees might still have to walk one block to the courthouse, as they do now (and would still do to the new parking garage!) I still can’t determine if the county received an offsetting credit on our 450-parking space requirement for the Atrium offices we are demolishing.Even if we need added parking, we can save the Atrium Building by building the parking garage just to the south of the one now on Sahwatch. That is across the street from the courts. We can build a multi-level structure on the juror parking lot (the county paid $1.5 million for that lot, assessed at only $500,000). We would buy and remove two tin-siding warehouses next to that lot, assessed at only one-third the value of the Atrium Building. Their demolition cost is also a fraction of that for the Atrium, which we then keep, or Heaven forbid, sell for millions of dollars, putting it back on the tax rolls.The illegal device our county used to fund this unneeded project is called Certificates of Participation. The county set up a dummy corporation under county control. That phony corporation borrows the money, not the “county.” The county used this gimmick before 2002, but never to this nauseating degree.How do they avoid TABOR’s voter approval requirement, which covers all “direct or indirect” financial obligations “whatsoever” that last multiple years? By inserting a clause that says they don’t have to pay back the money they borrowed, and are free to stop repayment any time. (Wink, wink.) Sure, and you can default in year 29 of your mortgage and lose your house. Does that mean you don’t owe the money? COPs also mean we pay higher interest costs and default insurance, but does the county care? No. It’s not THEIR money!Did you ever notice that liberals say TABOR is “strangling” government, yet we still need all these new government buildings for all these new government employees? Do you enjoy being lied to?I hope and predict some believer in limited, constitutional government will sue to challenge this unholy scam. (Of course the suit will be heard by a judge who benefits from it and has a conflict of interest.) These COP abuses were the main trigger for my decision to run for commissioner and work to clean up county government. Is a corrupt connivance like this what Lincoln dreamt of–“Government of the contractors, by the bond dealers, for the bureaucrats?”If you support balanced budgets, and oppose deficit spending and amoral lawyer’s tricks, I want to see and hear you on April 21. Only if you’re on your deathbed, watch BOCC meetings live on our computer every Monday and Thursday at 9 a.m. at www.elpasoco.com I welcome your scrutiny of BOCC decisions. After all, it is YOUR money! In this case, $80 million, the largest single boondoggle in El Paso County history. For shame.Contact me at (719) 520-6412, by email at DouglasBruce@elpasoco.com, or by writing me at 27 E. Vermijo Ave. Colo. Spgs. CO 80903.For liberty,Douglas BruceYOUR county commissioner
